Post Office in New Cross set to relocate. Pic: Katriona Thompson.
Residents in Telegraph Hill are angry about the relocation of New Cross Gate post office claiming customers will face longer queues and a downgraded service.
The post office will move from its existing building on New Cross Road into a shop a few doors away next month – part of nationwide closures of dedicated Crown branches, as the company seeks to reduce its costs.
Residents mounted a campaign to stop the move and say the new premises within a shop will be cramped and inconvenient.
In a meeting with the post office earlier this month, also attended by the local MP Vicky Foxcroft, locals raised their concerns about whether the new site will have enough room for wheelchairs and a free ATM.
They also said queues for the counter service will spill out onto the busy street outside.
Kirsten Downer, a resident of New Cross, told ELL: “Lack of space and staff will inevitably mean queues. These already happen in the existing post office which has a large forecourt so there’s enough room for them.”
They also condemned the way the public consultation was carried out by Post Office Ltd, arguing that it did not address any of the issues the local community brought before the consultation committee.
Alberto Bianchi, a resident in Pepys Road, said he worried that the new site will see people queuing for cash at the counters, due to the lack of an ATM.
Another resident, Sue Amaradivakara, warned that queues will spill out of the shop onto the busy street outside.
Labour councillor, Paul Bell, has also raised concerns about the future of the branch in its new site, which has a franchise contract for five years. “There is no guarantee even the downgraded services would remain after five years,” he said on his website.
The Post Office said the new premises will be completely refurbished and services will operate from a “dedicated area”.
“There will be sufficient space and access for our customers, including those who use wheelchairs – we have stringent standards about this,” a spokeswoman said.
She said there will be four serving positions and that, “services will be unchanged and available for longer hours.”
“There will be an automatic door and a ramp will be installed, aisles will be sufficiently wide. Plans also include low-level counters, PIN pads, hearing loops and customer seating. There will be four serving positions.”
The Post Office said, “Services will be unchanged and available for longer hours.”
The proposed new site will be smaller, with less counters, manned for less time by less qualified, less experienced staff – not paid the London Living Wage. Vulnerable users will have to queue past lottery tickets and alcohol.
If you want to know what a franchised ‘back of a shop’ Post Office-lite looks like, pop along to Deptford PO which is at the back of a shop which has since closed. It looks like a junk shop.
Post office bosses are making these closures because they no longer want to directly employ people with decent terms and conditions. This situation has thrown up some shocking information about the franchising practices at the Post Office:
– The Post Office do not require franchisees to meet service output standards eg. having all desks staffed at peak times. Our current post office is very well used. It is certain that there will be long queues in the new smaller premises and that, worse still, people will end up queueing out the door. The new shop is on a busy A road – Old Kent Road – and this will be dangerous for families with small children not to mention vulnerable people’s exposure to the cold.
– The proposed shop also sells alcohol and lottery tickets and this is harmful to addicts and recovering addicts who will need postal services.
– Contracts with franchisees don’t require them to pay London Living Wage. Minimum wage which is impossible to live on in London. By cutting proper Post Office jobs and allowing franchisees free reign, the Post Office are overseeing a huge contribution in the race to the bottom for terms and conditions at work.
– The Post Office has refused several reasonable requests for information about the operation of New Cross Gate Crown Post Ofice including a FoI request and several requests from our local MP.
– Finally, the closure of our post office will lead to the closure of the adjacent Royal Mail sorting office which is also an essential local service.The Post Office has been evasive about this. The only information we have is the likelihood of having to travel to Mandela Way which is extraordinarily inconvenient.
– The Post Office apparently weren’t aware when making their decision that thousands of new homes are being built in New Cross Gate over the next few years as well as the Bakerloo Lime arrival.
– The Post Office have already in recent years closed Peckham’s post office, New Cross branch post office and the two franchises in Deptford are in a precarious state and badly run.
At the same time, the chief executive Paula Vennells is being awarded over £600k per year.
Our Post Office is an essential public service and shouldn’t be asset stripped in this way.
The new post office service is absolute rubbish compared to the old one. Staff that barely speak english, only 3 tills, unexperienced staff unfriendly. Like everything in the area and royal mail itself everything is done on the cheap and the service standards drop but not the price of course. Old site no doubt being earmarked for luxury flats or a betting shop. Another sign of broke britain. Profits before people.
There will be an automatic door and a ramp will be installed, aisles will be sufficiently wide. Plans also include low-level counters, PIN pads, hearing loops and customer seating. There will be four serving positions.” How many years now and no automatic door , no ramp, counter is high ,no seating, two serving are open, wheel chair access just opened and still not appropriate. November 4. 2023